Creating Positive Experiences at Work

I was fortunate to have the opportunity recently through my work with The Positivity Institute to facilitate a 'Positivity@Work' workshop involving approximately 80 Senior Leaders from the Retail industry across Australia and New Zealand. The focus was assisting leaders to build the skills to flourish; personally, with their teams, and clients.

Guy Russo, the CEO of department stores Kmart and Target, opened the day and among other things, spoke to the criticality of identifying meaning at work (a key positive psychology intervention); connecting day-to-day activities with a higher purpose. To demonstrate, he recalled his earlier working career at McDonald's (where he began flipping burgers and left leading the Asia Pacific group), and spoke passionately about his commitment to crafting the burgers as they were meant to be, time and time again, in order to deliver the consistent and high-quality brand experience the chain promised their customers.

Beyond connecting to a higher purpose, there are any number of other evidence-based positive psychology interventions that can be implemented at the individual, team, and organisational levels to improve performance and wellbeing. Some examples include:

About the author

Olivia Evans (‘The Career Guide’) is a qualified coaching professional with nearly a decade of experience in management consulting and human resources including recruitment and career development. Olivia has worked with ASX 200, top tier Professional Services firms, and Government departments. Olivia’s passion is people, and specifically assisting them to build meaningful careers.